Reduction-machine



(No Model.) y l y 3 sheetssheet 1.

J. W. CLLINS. Y

REDUCTION MACHINE.

N0. 290,208I` i y Patented D60.. 18, 1883.

(No Model.) f v 3 Sheets-Sheet 2..

J. W. COLLINS. REDUCTION MACHINE.

No. 290.208. f Patented Dee. 18.1883.`

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UNirn'D STATES' PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. COLLINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

REDUCTION-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 290,208, dated December 18, 1883.

Application filed February 7, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it 17mg concern: y Be it known that I, JOHN W. COLLINS, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and a citizen of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reduction Machines, of which the following is a full description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a top or plan view; Fig. 3, a horizontal section on line g/ 3,/ of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the interior cylinder or cone with a section of the exterior cylinder or cone on one side; Fig. 5, an elevation of the exterior cylinder or cone with the sheet-metal or other casings removed; Fig. 6, "an inside view of a reduction-plate, and Fig. 7 a partial cross-section enlarged, to show the movements of the'grain or other material.

This invention has for its objects to provide a novel machine for reducing wheat and other grain or material by splitting or breaking the same; to improve the efficiency of such machines as split or break grain, in contradistinction to crushing the same, by increasing the capacity of the machine without materially enlarging it, and to render the machine'strong and durable. These objects I accomplish in the manner and by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, A indicates the exterior cylinder or cone; B, the interior cylinder or cone; C, the feed tubes or ducts; D, dischargetubes; E, center shaft; F, driving-pulley; G, bridge; H I, shaft and hand-wheel; X, supporting frame-Work; a, casings over the feedopenings a of the cylinder A, b, casings over the discharge-openings b; c, reducing faces or plates; d, bolts or screws for attaching the plates c. v

The cylinder A is made of cast-iron, by preference, and it is provided with inlet and exit passageso b, as shown in Fig. 5, which inlet and exit passages alternate, as shown, and, as shown, there are nine of each-eighteen in all. The number, however, may be reduced or increased, according to the diameter of the cylinders or the width of the passages and plates. Six of these passages (three of each kind) and not more than twenty -four (twelve of each kind) will be found to be the limits of a practicable mill, as it will be preferable to duplicate the mill to increasing its size beyond the largestlimit. These inlet and exit passages or ducts are covered with sheet-metal or other casings, a b, so as to complete the passages or ducts; and, as shown, I have combined these passages into triplets, so that three of them are fed from each pipe C and three of them discharge from each pipe or tube D, as shown t in Fig. l; but these end terminations may be varied according to circumstances, as it will be evident that when three only are used each one will form by itself a complete inlet and discharge casing or tube, and instead of arranging them, as shown in Fig. l, to be separately discharged, when combined they may all bedischarged together into'a single trough built at or near the lower end of the two cylinders.

I do not limit my other improvements to the coupling together of any two or more of these passages or tubes, while the coupling of them together, as shown in Fig. 1, is advantageous where more than one size of grain or material is being run through theA mill. The tubes C are connected with any suitable bin or hopper, andV the tubes or pipes D are usually discharged into the receiver of an elevator or conveyer, which takes the reduced grain to any suitable bolting-reel or other bolting device. The interior-cylinder, B, is made to fit the eX- terior cylinder, as shown, and it is supported upon the center shaft, E. Its periphery is provided with longitudinal grooves or other suitable dress for reducing the grain,which grooves may be made. spiral or inclined, if desired. This cylinder is madeI slightly conical, by preference, as in this form the space between the two cylinders is adj usted by simply raising land lowering the interior cylinder, and for this purpose I have Vshown the common bridge, shaft, and hand-wheel G, H, and I. A screw, step, or other means of vertical adjustment may, however, be used in place of those shown, and, as shown, the cylinders A B are above the supporting-frame; but, ordinarily, the frame will be carried higher, so that the cylinders will be partly or wholly within it.' The shaft Emay also be extended upward, so that the driving-pulley F can be located above the IOO cylinders. Thcspacebetween the cylinders is adjusted for reducing grains of different sizes by locating the plates c nearer to or farther from the inner circle of the cylinders A, as hereinafter explained, so as to produce wider or narrower spaces between the cylinders A and B in different parts of the cylinder, as desired. The object or purpose of this is to enable me to operate upon or reduce more than one size of grain at the same time in a single mill, the form shown being adapted to three sizes, which is the ordinary sizing of grain. It will be understood, of course, that the grain is sized in a suitable machine or apparatus before it is fed or passed to the mill, and'by this arrangement I avoid the necessity of either crushing the large grains or kernels or passing the smaller ones without breaking or reducing them.

Between each inlet and exit passage is placed a smooth plate, c, made of hardened steel, chilled iron, or other suitable material, which is attached to the exterior cylinder by the bolts d, and is arranged at such an angle as will admit the grain to pass onto it freely, and to prevent it from passing off without being reduced or broken. I adjust these plates in respect to the distance to which they are inset by means of thin metal sheets c', placed behind them, through which the bolts d pass, so as to hold them all together, and as these plates c become worn, additional backing-plates are placed behind them, so as to locate them farther in and compensate for the wear. This adjustment, of course, may be performed by setscrews; but in that case much stronger plates will be required, with a greater liability to spring or break the plates. I therefore prefer to back them by additional plates, as described, for the reason that such method of adjustment is cheaper and stronger.

In operation, the inlet tubes or passages are filled with grain under a slight pressure from the grain above, which keeps the passages c a. full. rPhe rotation of the cylinder B is such that the kernels cr grains are taken into the space between the cylinder and the plates c, and carried across said plates, which, owing to the angle of the plates, reduces the grains in their passage across them, and the grain is discharged as soon as it passes a single plate into the passages b b, from which the reduced grain is carried off, as hereinbefore stated.

By this arrangement of the narrow reducing-surfaces, the grain is reduced immediately upon its contact with the cylinder B, and is discharged without heating or pulverizing, and those grains which first enter, or which enter at the upper end of the cylinder, are held in the mill no longer than those which enter last or at the lower end. There is therefore no heating of the mill, and almost no pulverizing of the grain.

Vhat I claim as new, and desire te secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. The cylinder A, constructed along its length with the feed-passage a and dischargepassage b', in combination with the reducingplate c, secured along the inner vertical side of the conical cylinder between the feed and discharge passages, and the interior cylinder, B, substantially as described.

2. The cylinder A, constructed along its length with the series of alternating feed and discharge passages a and Z1', in combination with the series of reducing-plates c, secured, respectively, between each feed and discharge passage along the inner vertical side of the conical cylinder, and the cylinder B, substantially as described.

3. The cylinder A, constructed along its length with the feed and discharge passages a and b', in combination with a tube, C, for delivering the grain to the feed-passages, the reducing-plates c, secured between the said passages along the inner Vertical side of the cylinder, and the conical cylinder B, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the cylinder A, constructed with the feed and discharge passages a and b', and the reducing-plate c, fixed to the cylinder and interposed between the feed and discharge openings, with the tube C, for delivering the material to the feed-passage, and the tube D, for receiving the material from the discharge-passage, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the cylinder A, constructed with the feed-passages a a', and casings a a, covering the same, with a single feed-pipe, C, common to the upper ends of a series of the feed-passages, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the cylinder A, constructed with the discharge-passages b b', and casings b b, covering the same, with a pipe, D, common to the lower ends, of a series of the discharge-passages, substantially as described.

7. The combination of the cylinder A, constructed with the feed-passages a a and discharge-passages b b,with a feed-pipe, C, common to a series of the feed-passages, and the discharge-pipe D, common to a series ofthe discharge-passages, substantially as described.

8. The cylinder A, constructed along its length with the feed and discharge passages a. and b', the independently-adiustable reducing-plates c, secured to the cylinder along the inner vertical side of the saine, and each interposed between each of the feed and discharge passages, and the interior cylinder, B, substantially as described.

JOHN XV. COLLINS.

iVitnesses:

O. W. BOND, ALBERT H. Ahaus.

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